On
Dictionary.com, metamorphosis is defined as follows:
1.
1) Biology.
a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an
organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult
butterfly:
-.
- Compare complete metamorphosis.
2.
- a
complete change of form, structure, or substance, as transformation by magic or
witchcraft.
3.
- any
complete change in appearance, character, circumstances, etc.
4. - a
form resulting from any such change.
5.
2) Pathology.
a.
a
type of alteration or degeneration in which tissues are changed:
fatty metamorphosis of
the liver.
b.
the
resultant form.
6.
3) Botany.
the structural or functional modification of a plant organ or structure during
its development.
Accordingly,
a profound or complete change, or an alteration or degeneration or modification
of something is basically defined as metamorphosis. However, it seems like any
human being, or may be any living thing, who lives to old age will go through
metamorphosis.
Show
your baby pictures to friends or colleagues and ask them to guess who that baby
is. Unless they get a hint as to why you’re showing them that baby’s pictures
and the reason you are asking that question, they could never guess that those
are your pictures when you were a baby. Why? Because our facial features go
through a dramatic change from the time we are born, till our old age, which
makes it hard to match the picture with the face. These changes are so dramatic
that we could declare: every living thing constantly goes through metamorphosis.
First,
we begin with metamorphosis of outside of our bodies. Our skin color from the
time we are born goes through several shades, till the end of our lives. Depending
on our genes and where we were born, our skin color can turn out to be light or
dark. It seems as no two people share the same tonnage of their skins. At the
same time, each person’s skin color constantly changes, whether it is exposed
to the light or not. The quality of it goes through many changes as well. It
gets wrinkled as we age. Therefore, the color and the quality of our skin is
constantly changing.
As
we age, our eyes lose their sharpness, and we need to wear glasses in order to
see better. Our hearing loses its acuteness as well. Our teeth decay. Our taste
is not as well-defined as it used to be. Our legs cannot walk or run as quick
as when we were younger. Our posture is not as sharp and straight as it once
was. Each member and limb of our body begins decaying.
As
babies, we do not have any hair, or may be a few on our scalps. As we get
older, we grow more hair on our heads. Scalp hair keeps growing forever for
most people, so we need to have them cut. At the time of maturity, we get hair
in other places, such as under arms, on our faces and chests (if male), on arms
and legs, inside the nose, as well as on private areas. As we age, we grow more
hair in these areas. Each one of us begins this process, from infancy to
adulthood. Up to the age of maturity, the hair in those areas keep growing,
although the pace shortens. From the age of maturity up, we start losing our
scalp hair, and no matter what color our hair is, it begins to whiten. As a
male person, one loses more hair than a female person. Also, as a male, one
starts growing hair inside and outside the ears. At the same time, while one is
losing hair in some places, hair on some other places keeps appearing and
getting longer, such as in eyebrows. Then, beside of the remaining hair on the
head, the ones in the nose and on the eyebrows and eyelashes and under arms,
and even the new hair in our ears start turning white! Considering many
features outside of our bodies, this is only one item.
I
am not a hairy person, and don’t have much hair on my legs and chest. However,
as I have been aging, I began to get hair on my back! In fact, I have grown
hair almost all over the surface of my body. The only places on my skin which I
have not been growing hair are on the palms of my hands and feet! You may say:
“you are not the same person anyway! Your thought process when you were a baby,
and at any given time growing up, has never been the same, and it has
constantly been changing; so, would your physical appearances.” And that makes
perfect sense. As human beings, we have constantly been changing physically and
mentally. As our physics change due to the weather and other environmental
impacts, our thoughts keep changing as well, due to discovering new horizons
and communication with others.
As
babies, our brains are as fresh and receptive as magnets. We record whatever is
around us, and whatever we see, we hear, and we touch. A brain is a file
cabinet, recording and classifying and filing whatever happens around us. Going
to school, at work, spending leisurely time, and whatever else we do turns into
data, and then it gets filed. This file cabinet, our brain, has such an
expanded capacity that up to 2.5 petabytes of memory, which equals to 2.5
million gigabytes of memory, can fit in it. On the other hand, brain starts
shrinking at the age of 30, the rate of which gets faster after the age of 60.
The wrinkled outer layer of the brain, cerebral cortex, gets thinner as one
ages. Frontal and temporal lobes of the brain normally shrink. Therefore, as we
age further, we lose more of our memories.
As
we age, we lose our tissues as well. Our bodies shrink and we get shorter, while
back bending and a general body curvature replaces our straight and upright
posture. We lose sight and need to wear glasses. Some lose their hearings, and
even our speech differs, due to dental or breathing problems. All the organs
inside our bodies get old as well. When we are young, teeth can chew, and
stomach can digest anything softer than rocks! As we age, the easiest food to
eat is regurgitated! Heart’s rhythm slows and blood’s flow dithers! Eyes and
ears see and hear with difficulty. Number of older people in comparison to
youngsters in doctors’ offices or in hospitals can always tell the story of
physical health of youngsters versus aging people.
At
an older age, many sicknesses and diseases attack our bodies. Physical,
cognitive, and emotional condition of an old person assimilates that of babies,
as they require more care for continuation of their operations. We can conclude
that our bodies make a circle, from infancy to young age and back to infancy.
The difference is that at the young age one is thriving, but at the old age the
person is expiring. To conclude, at the young age, there is a mother to take
care of the baby, but at the old age, no one is around to help, while the
gravedigger is waiting!
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